A Trip to the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ)

Visiting the DMZ is on almost everyone's to-do-list who comes to Seoul.   I mean who wouldn't want to go to visit the world's most heavily militarized border and get a glimpse in to the worlds most secretive country?  I had been meaning to visit for a while, so finally decided to go on a tour with Adventure Korea.  The tensions between the two countries were ok (apart from a few 'accidental' gun shots taken at the North a few days before) so it seemed like a safe-ish time to visit.  Here is a bit of info what we did on the tour.

DMZ

The DMZ is the De-Militatized Zone between North and South Korea.   It is basically a 4km no-man's land which was divided after the Korean War.  It is rammed with mines and is full of nature.  According to some of the touristy stuff at the border, there are even a lot of bears wandering around in there.  How they don't set of the mines though I don't get...

Before I went on this trip I didn't realise how close I actually live to North Korea.  It's crazy.  As soon as you are out of the main hustle and bustle of Seoul, you are pretty much on the main road leading up the North.  You get a strange feeling as you look out of the window and no longer see skyscrapers, but barbed wire and watch-towers along the sides of the road.  You can even see North-Korean territory pretty soon after leaving Seoul. 

Imjingak (임진각)

The first point of call was the village/park called Imjingak AKA 'peace village'.  Imjingak was built in 1972 and is located 7km from the border.  It was built in the hope for unification between the 2 Koreas.  SO many families became divided after the war, so this village is now the site where people from the North visit and perform ancestral rites by bowing towards their home town on Chuseok (thanksgiving) and New Years Day.   It was quite an interesting area - you can strike the giant 'Peace Bell' and even buy some real North Korean currency.

One huge tourist thing you must see here is the derailed train which has 1,200 bullet holes in it after getting shot at and bombed.   It is a huge symbol of the division between the North and South and has become Registered Cultural Heritage.

Derailed train after war

Tongilchon (Unification Village)


The next stop was fooooood.  Being a vegetarian, I loved the tofu and soybean lunch we had.  I'm not sure how much the meat eaters were loving it though...  We ate in a traditional restaurant in the village of Tongilchon which is one of the unification villages.  We had a drive around after to look at the homes of the people who live in the DMZ.  The people who live here get a lot of state benefits such as no taxes and no military duties (which every Korean man is assigned to do).  Their security is so high here that they don't even have to lock their doors.   The downside however is that this is the first village to 'go' as it were, if the North attacked.

Traditional restaurant in Tongilchon

You can buy North Korean beer in the shops, mmm

 

The Third Infiltration Tunnel (3땅굴)


Next we made a stop to visit the 1.7km scary mofo tunnel dug by the North Koreans to make a surprise attack on Seoul.  Unfortunately, we were forbidden to take photos so you will have to make do with my detailed description of  the 'scary mofo tunnel'.  We got kitted up in bright construction hats and made our way deep down in to the steep, cold darkness.   At times the tunnel was so small that even I was banging my head super cool helmet (and I am relatively short).   Apparently 4 tunnels have been found so far and there are believed to be another 10 out there - there is even a reward for finding them, although there is no possible way anyone could just decide to go and hunt for a tunnel without getting blown up by mines or shot first.  Bit unfair really, I'd quite like to go tunnel hunting....  Anyway, you walk down the tunnel at a ridiculous angle and then when u get to the end (barbed wire) you turn back and climb the dreadful incline back up.  Least to say, I have now joined a gym, so if I did this again, it might not be as painful!




Dora Observatory and Dorasan Train Station  (도라산)


The penultimate stop was Dorasan Observatory where you can actually look in to the Demilitarized Zone and North Korea.  The city of Kaesong is visible in the background.  It is the second largest city in North Korea and you get a really hallowing feeling looking in to the city, with the huge North Korean flag towering over everything.   You get a strange feeling here, it is so peaceful.  All you can hear (apart from the people you are with) is the nature in front of you in this large area of no man's land, yet at the same time you are looking in to the most secretive 
and communist country in the world.  Photos here are strictly prohibited so you will have to make do with a pic taken form behind the 'camera line' (about a zillion miles back).  I did take a really good sneaky one, but a soldier saw and then deleted it from my camera.  Humph.

Looking in to North Korea

The final leg of the trip was to the Dorasan Train Station which has the tag line  "not the last station from the South, but the first station towards to North".  The amazing this is that if the North and South become 'fwwwieennnddssss' (sorry, couldn't resist it) again, then it will be possible for me to get a train all the way from Seoul back home to London!!  Not that I would, but just saying.  Cool, huh?   One fun thing about this station is that you can purchase tickets to go up on the platform, and because it is extremely rare for a train to pass through, you can even play on the tracks!!

Tracks to Pyeongyang...

Map if the North and South become 'Korea friendsss'

Just chillin on the tracks

Hmmm, which way to go!?

Passport stamps form Dorasan

Tteokbokki Town

Sindangdong Tteokbokki Town 

신당동 떡볶이 타운

I recently went here and felt that I just had to write about it!  This post is to inform people who are in Korea about this delicious area of Seoul, and to inform those outside of Korea about the legendary food that is Tteokbokki.

Tteokbokki  떡볶이

Tteokbokki (pronounced 'tockbocky') is a traditional Korean street food that is also served pretty much anywhere.  The street food version usually tastes better than the restaurants, but not in the case of Ttokbokki town (which I will get to later).  It consists of cylindrical pressed rice cakes which are cooked in a spicy and garlicky sauce alongside 'odeng' (fish cake), egg, onions and various vegetables.  

Now, I love spicy food, but I was so shocked to see kids as young as 5 years old tucking in to this stuff when I first arrived.  I was sitting there blowing my nose every 2 mins, whilst these kids were like 'mmm yummmmyy morrreee!'   Kids back home need to learn a lesson or two!  


Tteokbokki Town


After experiencing some major Tteokbokki cravings, I decided that I needed to give this place a visit.  It is located in Sindang-dong, and is basically a whole street (not town) filled with spicy, yummy tteokbokki restaurants. 

The entrance to 'Tteokbokki Town'

The most popular restaurant is apparently called 'Halmeoni Tteokbokki' which has a big picture of a granny over entrance ('halmeoni' means 'grandma' in Korean) - it opened in 1953 so it's been open a while!!  It seemed more of an older clientele  restaurant though, so we opted for the bigger, more 'hip' (lol, granny joke i'm so funny) restaurant opposite called 'I Love Sindang-dong'.    It was huge!  Apparently back in 2002, seven tteokbokki restaurants merged to form this big mumma of a restaurant.  It is mega-popular with young people and also celebrities (they all had their photos/autographs up by the entrance to entice people in).


Their menu was really varied.  The description of 'tear rice cake' made me laugh; "require of sweat and tears" - I guess it's spicy!??  And when they say spicy  in Korea, hell do they mean it!    

We opted for the cheese filled tteokbokki (and a beer) and it was......amazing!!!  
They brought over the pan and it was filled with SO MUCH FOOD!  There was tteokbokki (obviously) - both regular and mozzarella cheese-filled.  There was a whole pack of ramen, eggs, mandu (dumplings), glass noodles, vegetables etcetc.  

The pan of uncooked food

I love these kinds of restaurants where you cook your own food.  In England we are too health and safety conscious to let people have their own gas cookers on their tables in restaurants, so it makes a really exciting adventure to be able to do it here!!  Not sure letting me in control of a gas hob is wise though, especially after a beer....


Anyway, we got cooking and after about 5 mins of stirring and bubbling we started to eat...

Omnomnomnommmmmm

And to top it off, they even had a DJ and some musical entertainment!  

How to get there:


Leave exit 8 and turn left shortly after the exit.  Keep walking straight and then you will see the above street sign <3

My summery/typhoony holiday to Boracay

I remember getting really excited last year about the prospect of going to Boracay, but because of the pay situation, or rather lack of pay situation, I was gutted that we could not go.   I wanted to go sooo badly, and jumped at the chance to go this year.

One downside of working in a Hagwon in Korea is that you get set holidays; 5 days in the summer and 5 days in the winter.  Unfortunately, my summer break fell right in the middle of the typhoon season for the Philippines (yay...).  I knew this when booking it up, but I'm a bit of a risk-taker so thought 'what the hell, i'm sure a little rain once a day for 10mins won't be a problem.'  How wrong I was, haha.

The Journey


Our flight was at 7.30a.m so had no option but to leave for airport after work on Friday and camp out.  You many remember me mentioning 'jimjilbangs' in a previous post (24hour sauna/bathing houses) and how I've never had the privilege of sleeping in one.  Well, now I have.  I suppose it beats sleeping on the airport floor, but it really wasn't something I'd do again in a hurry.  There is a Jimjilbang located in Incehon airport.  You pay about 20k (£12) to get in and then you get some shorts/t-shirt to change in to.  There are baths if you want, but I think most people just retreat to the 'sleeping' room to get rest before their flight.  In the women's changing room, there are a couple of private rooms with a bed in them.  I say bed, but I mean a hard uncomfortable surface.   I half got to sleep on one of these, when I awoke to a rather angry ajumma banging on the door telling me to leave.  Apparently you have to pay extra for these 'luxury private rooms' so I was sent to the room with snoring men.  At least I got a sleeping mat.  I don't think I got any sleep that night.  Not only were there snoring men, but they also had the air-con on really high - it was freezing!  Still, I got a nice hot shower before my flight and it is better than sleeping in the main airport.  Can you imagine one of these at Heathrow!?

The journey to Boracay Island was kind of long-winded.  We had to get a flight to Manila, then a connecting flight to Caticlan, then a boat to Boracay as it is too small to have an airport.  To get around in Boracay, you ride these 'tricycle' things which are basically a side seat attached to a motorbike.  They were pretty scary!!

Here is a video of our journey on a tricycle:

We took this tricycle to our hotel, and after James half-fell out of it, the driver stopped and decided it was too steep to continue (really, you think!?).  So we walked 5 mins down this hill and in that space found a tiny rabies infested kitten, a few stray goats and some cockerels.   I genuinely thought the kitten was a small black plastic bag until it meowed and then walked towards me.  It looked a bit like a zombie kitten, all it's fur was hanging off.  I don't really know how to act around rabies-infested animals so I kind of freaked out at the poor thing.  It must have only been a couple of days old :(  We saw another lost kitten another day so I went to the shop to buy it milk, but the milk just got absorbed by the sand.  Poor ickle thing.

The Arrival
Anyway, we arrived in the early evening so had a stroll down the main strip.  The weather was amazing, the sand was whiter than white and the sea was a beautiful turquoise colour.  We ate food, then sat at this beach bar during Happy Hour (which ironically was 2pm-8pm - that's what I'm talkin about!).  The sky was pretty cloudy, but we got to see a sort-of-sunset whilst sitting under a palm tree and drinking a beer on a tropical island.  Perfection.

The bar was called 'NigiNigiNooNoo'sNooNooNoo'

The First Day

The next day we got up bright and early to go Island Hopping.  The sun was shining and without a doubt, these islands were the most gorgeous places I've ever seen.  One plus about it being off-season was that the islands were pretty deserted.  I've never seen such white sand in my life!

First we went snorkelling.  I did this before in Turkey, so wasn't really expecting to see much.  How wrong was I!?  It was amazing - tropical nemo fish everywhere, colourful corals etcetc.  Such a great experience.

I found Nemo :)

Next we went to a private Island called 'Crystal Cove Island.'  We had fun here exploring caves and looking at the awesome ocean views.

One of the caves

Unfortunately, by the time we arrived at 'Puka Shell Beach' my camera battery had died. The boat journey back was pretty scary, the winds were picking up rapidly, and we were quite glad to get home.

Ladyboys <3

That night we took a stroll down the beach and found LADYBOYS!!  They were dancing with fire.  We  I wanted to watch them, so we got BOGOF cocktails.  What we didn't realise when I ordered my Strawberry Margarita, was the the cocktails had to be the same.  Sorry, James!!   So we were sitting there with our pink margaritas watching the show, and it was fabulous.   Here is a video clip of some of them dancing to 'It's Raining Men':

Typhoon 'Nock-Ten'

The rain came down later this night, and it rained.  And rained.  And rained.  The winds were so strong that they were coming in our apartment through the vents in the bathrooms and blowing us during the night.  During the day, if you went outside for just 30seconds in this rain, you would be drenched.  The rain even found it's way in through our windows and made a huge puddle on the floor.  Unfortunately, an island like Boracay shuts down completely when this stuff happens.  The boat trips get cancelled, and the beach is far too windy to sit on.  We did actually go in the sea for a bit during the typhoon, but it was so rough.  Just going in up to your knees gets you pulled under.  So for the next 4 days, we had to just sit around in the bars eating and drinking!  It REALLY sucked, but the holiday was worth it just for that first day.

'White Beach' not looking so white

No lifeguard today then!?

Flooded Streets

Flooded Restaurant

Something Disgusting

One thing I did learn, was that the Philippino's eat something even worse than what you would find in Korea. A friend I met out there tried one and could only describe it as a 'duck abortion'  (Bleughhhh, excuse me whilst I go to puke)...  It is a speciality called a 'Balut' which is bascially a fertilised duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell.  Here is a picture which I found on Wikipedia for if you actually want to see what it looks like: Balut Picture

Something Funny


We found a bar called 'The Hobbit House' which only employed midgets little people.  I found this rather hilarious, albeit a bit prejudice.   Here is a picture of the 'hobbits':

Hobbits holding menus.

So if you are reading this and are considering going to the Philippines, then I would strongly advise that you do not go during typhoon season.  We were lucky that we got one great day, but it's a big ole' risk.  Any other time of the year, you will have the most amazing time, like ever.

CURRY UDONG SOUP

Anyone reading this who knows me will probably know that I love to cook.  I'm not the most organised cook in the world and I pretty much never ever measure or record what I put in to my creations.  I just add things and see how it goes.  But one problem with this method is that I can never remake something the same second time around.  Anyway, I bought a rice-cooker the other day so will be doing a lot more cooking (well, cooking that involves rice...) and it has inspired me to start a food-blog-sort-of-thing.  I've been a bit shit  lazy with the blog updates so this will give me more to write about.

SO....

I am going to use this blog to:

 a) Add recipes that I would like to remember 

and  b) Add interesting Korean foods that people at home may find strange/amazing/disgusting etcetc

and c) Give you lucky, lucky people an insight in to my kitchen (or lack of with my one-hob stove).

CURRY UDONG SOUP  카레우동

The first meal I would like to share with you is Curry Udong soup.  You might be reading this thinking 'you spelt udon wrong, it doesn't have a 'g' at the end.  You idiot.'  Even if I Google 'Udong,' it kindly replies: "Did you mean: udon".  Err, no actually Google.. Udong is the Korean, as opposed to Japanese (Romanised) spelling of what is essentially the same thing (a thick wheaty, chewy noodle).

Anyway, I'm blabbing about nothing.  Let's get back to the recipe.  This is for two people:

Ingredients 

2x packets of udong noodles

1x medium onion

2.5x tbsp curry powder

2x cups of water with some dashi stock in it

1/3 cup of mirin / mirim (rice wine)
Corn starch to thicken

Splash of soy sauce (reduced salt if poss)

a sprinkle of sesame seeds

and a sprinkle of black pepper (optional, but tastes gooood).

1. Boil the udong for 1-2mins then rinse and set aside.
2. Finely chop the onion and then fry for a few mins until soft.
3. Add the curry powder and mix in with the onion.  (A good idea at this point would be to mix a tiny bit of water in with the powder to make a paste to avoid lumps before adding to the pan).

Ottogi curry powder

4. Add 2 cups of dashi stock (2 cups of water and about 2 tsps of dashi stock or vegetable stock)

Dashi - beef stock

5.  Add 1/3 cup of mirin (rice wine)

6.  Add a splash of soy sauce.

7.  Bring to the boil and add the necessary amount of cornstarch to thicken the soup up a bit.

8.  Add the udong noodles to the soup and cook for a couple more minutes.

9.  Serve up and sprinkle on a few sesame seeds to make it look good ;)

Curry Udong Soup 

07/04/2011 Radioactive-rain Day and the Day the Animals came to School

 So, I'm sitting here and it's been raining non-stop since last night - I actually experienced the biggest thunderstorm I have ever been in, it went on ALL night long.  No joke.  And I'm not talking a little rattle here and there, I'm talking full on storm.   The thunder was rumbling constantly and the lightning must have been flashing about 10-15 times per minute....all  night!  It was quite exciting (being from England, I've never really seen one last more than about ten minutes), but it did start to get annoying after a few hours of our whole apartment lighting up like a disco when I was trying to sleep.  On the plus side, I'm not epileptic.  Always look on the bright side.   All this talk of rain is making me think of an Adele song that I love  'Set Fire to the Rain'; boy I wish I could have set fire to the rain today.  I actually had puddles in both of my shoes when I got home this evening.

Ok, so the title of this blog post is about radioactive rain.  In particular, one specific day when the country freaked out.  Let me tell you the story...   The media had suggested a few days before that on the 7th April 2011, the wind would change direction from Japan and consequently blow radioactive particles on to the Korean peninsular.   Obviously, the government stepped in and did it's best to assure people that there was no chance of this happening and people were just panicking for no reason.  Despite this 'reassurance,' weather forecasters were still insisting that the wind had changed direction and that radioactive rain was upon us.  It turned out that we did have radioactive rain, but nothing at a level that was harmful to people.  They actually said that you could drink the stuff every day for a year and still not get ill.  I probably wouldn't go that far...

Anyway, when people heard the news that the dreaded rain was coming, they freaked out. Yes they did.  About 150 schools were closed in Seoul because parent's didn't want their children to get rained on.  Shops sold out of masks, umbrellas, raincoats and alien costumes (see below).  Sadly, our school didn't close so James and I had to brave a short walk to school in the rain.  I was hoping to gain some super-powers, but all I got was a cold and an ear infection, which was in fact unrelated to the radioactivity.  So that is the story of radioactive rain day.  For some, the freaking out continues (just a few days ago my co-worker was refusing to get rained on, insisting that it is not safe) but for the rest of us, life goes on!

Environmental activists protesting over nuclear power in Seoul (taken from segy.com)

                                         Alien abduction.....nope just radioactive rain  (photo from msn.com)


Now on to the next part of this blog.   As a consequence of the radioactive rain palaver, many parents complained about us taking the kids on a field trip to see the cherry blossoms (which is a HUGE thing in Korea).  They come out once a year for a few days, and the whole country goes crazy and people flock to the parks with their very advanced digital cameras, snapping away and posing with every blossom in sight.  I must admit, I did join in the fun and yes I did pose with a cherry blossom or two.  Why the hell not?  I'm in Korea.

Posing with some cherry blossoms

'Flower' setting on the new camera

Anyway, I digress.  Our field trip got cancelled because the parents didn't want their kids to breathe in the bad air, so instead we decided to have a 'market day' where we gave the kids $10 each to spend on various things, which most ironically, were outside.  Hmmm.  Logic aside, it was really fun.  We transformed the school in to a market zone and had candy floss, balloons, a toy/book/clothes shop, face painting, and wait for it......30 something animals!!  I had to admit, I couldn't even imagine how they would do this, especially when we were told that these animals would include a 'big snake,' a sheep, a goat, a pony, a skunk (yes, a skunk) and various other furry and feathery friends.  Sure enough, when we arrived to school that morning, all the animals were there waiting for the hoards of kids to start pestering them.  

At fist, I think I was more excited than the children.  All weekend, I was like...'oooohhhh animals are coming to school on Monday!!' (yeah, I need to get a life), but when I arrived and saw the animals, I actually just felt really sad for them and had a short moment where I felt like I needed to rescue them and just set them free!  They were all in tiny cages.  There was even a cat in a cage, surely this is wrong?  I was in charge of pony rides, which I was super excited about, but when I saw the state of the poor old, haggered pony, I really didn't want to be the one responsible for putting small children on it's bony, spiny back.  It looked so sad.  Luckily, the children just posed with it in the end and had a photo, so it was all ok in the end.  Plus it gave the kids tonnes of entertainment when it decided to have a huge shit poo.  When the first kid saw it shitting pooing, they starting shouting 'dong!' 'dong!' and had many laughs.  James was in charge of animal feeding.  In his pen, there was the funny goat (it kept eating the sign), a duck, a pig, a sheep and a goose.  One kid wanted to feed the duck, so proceeded to shout 'duck' and lobbed a piece of radish at the duck.  Poor thing.  I don't think the duck understood.  The goat & sheep loved it, although the pig, being a pig, didn't have many children interested in feeding it.  I'm sure it got enough food though.

Bony Pony

Fun in the school

The hungry goat.  He was the best!

BANGING IN KOREA

If one visits Korea, then one will almost definitely participate in banging of some kind, whether it be naked in a public bath or drunkenly singing at the top of one's voice.  Let me expand....  For those of you reading this with a dirty mind - shame on you.  Bang or 방 is the Korean word for 'room' and is one of the main leisure activities for anyone in Korea.  There are so many different kind of bangs.....I will explain some of them here!

Jjimjilbang 찜질방


This is the one which is most westerners find the hardest to get their heads around, although it is such a prevalent part of the culture here.  Jjimjilbang translates to 'heated bath' and is basically a place to go and relax.  There are two main areas - the dry sauna area and the wet bathing area.  When you first arrive, you take your shoes off and are then given a key for a small shoe locker - do not step in with your shoes on, and do not put your shoes on before you exit - you will be shouted at by an angry Korean (and they often sound angry at the best of times).   If you want to go to the dry sauna area, you change in to the shorts and t-shirt provided and then do whatever you want - sleep, read a book, sweat in a pizza-oven style sauna, chill in an ice room (literally...ha)(sorry for that bad pun, but it had to be done. Then I did a poem without even knowing.  Ok I'll stop now.)  But the dry areas are amazing - depending on the size of the jimjilbang, some have a cinema (only ever showing Korean films, but the novelty is there), they all have a restaurant of some description and they all have sleeping zones - many people just come here to sleep as they are open 24/7.  Many people come to them drunk for a cheap place to stay - I can honestly say I've not had this privilege yet.  I think I'm missing out on sleeping on a hard floor next to snoring men with a block of wood for a pillow...But, ho hum.


Now we get to the exciting bit - going 'native' in the pools area.  Ok, the first time I did this it was confusing terrifying to say the least.  I went on my own (I thought that I'd be more comfortable getting naked in front of people I didn't know), but OMG it was a scary experience!  For starters, the lady on reception spoke no English, so I had to navigate my way around a 6 story jjimjilbang, not knowing where to go.  So I explored for a bit and got worried when it dawned on me that I had no idea which was the men's floor and which was the women's, so I went back to reception and casually followed some women to the right floor.  The actual bathing area was pretty amazing.  The awkward feeling of nakedness never went away, it was even worse knowing that I was the only foreigner in the building and that even fully clothed I got stared at and talked about every day.   I have to say though, that now I absolutely love the jjimjilbang experience.  It's so relaxing and refreshing - there are so many pools/jacuzzis, all of different temperatures, heated floor slabs to sleep on, spring water pools, green tea pools, more saunas, strange fat-breaking water streamers (I'm not too sure about these...).  But you feel so clean and relaxed when you leave.  Hey, I even took my mum when she visited!   The sight of Korean women vigorously scrubbing eachothers backs to the point of being red raw is pretty funny too.




DVD Bang


Whenever I mention to a Korean that I love DVD bangs, I get such a strange look.  They are basically a mini private cinema with a sofa and huge projector screen.  Just like Blockbuster, you go in and select a movie from the hundreds available and then you are shown to your room where you watch your movie.  It's so much better than watching a movie on your laptop; however they are notorious places for young couples to  'make out.'***  There is also a section of dvds devoted to porn - not subtly on the top shelf either, but eye level graphic dvd cases, sometimes quite hilarious.  Not that I spend time looking at these...  But porn aside, these are really cool places. 


***Thanks to Ian Robinson for the appropriate 'bang bang bang' link...


Noraebang 노래방

Karaoke rooms - what's not to love!!  Hours of entertainment are to be had in these..... Just on my street alone, there are probably 50 of them... and I'm not even exaggerating!  There are literally EVERYWHERE!  Karaoke is about as popular as kimchi (the national dish of spicy garlicky fermented cabbage which is served with every meal and more).  You've got millions of songs to choose from as well as a few instruments to play along with!


There are more bangs to talk about, such as board game bangs, but I've not visited any others, so I couldn't possibly comment!


Chow for now :-)

Annyeonghasseo!

I'm showing off a bit by titling this blog in Korean as I don't actually speak Korean.  I can read it though.  Well, I say I can read it, but it is is more of a level lower than my youngest phonics students and I think that if I actually read something Korean to a Korean then they would probably just look at me as if I'm on something.  Like once I was trying to order cheese seasoning for my chips, I was really proud of myself for reading the word in Korean, but the lady on the other side of the counter taking my order was just looking at me blankly with an utter confused look on her face.  I kept repeating it, but after no luck (and her starting to laugh at me.  Yes, she laughed at me),  I just found the word on a menu somewhere and pointed it out to her.  She then laughed (again) and said 'oh cheese!!!' Apparently 'cheese' is the same in Korean as it is in English. Typical!

Anywayyyyyy, I digress.

~~~~ARRIVING~~~~

WHAT AN EXHAUSTING WEEK!!  I got up at 5am last Saturday and left for Heathrow (such a lovely and not dull at all airport).  We said our goodbyes (boooo ;(( ) and were on our way.  The first stop on our incredible journey was Istanbul where we had to wait for  6  l o n g   h o u r s  before getting our connecting flight.  We had a snack in a restaurant and had a beer.  I still had some Lira left over from our holiday in Turkey last year, so without thinking I put the money down and we made our way to the gate.  At least, that's where we thought we would be heading until the waiter caught up with us and insisted that the money I had used was 'charity' money and has not been valid for over TEN YEARS!  How embarrassing.  I must have gotten swizzed by a dodgy tour salesman in Turkey.  Luckily I had some 'real' money, so gave it to him, apologised greatly and made a swift getaway.   The next flight was ok, although I was sat there wondering if our pilot was a trainee as the seatbelt light was on for the whole journey (about 10 hours).  Like the first flight however, I was sat next to someone with incredibly bad b.o.  And they say Koreans don't get b.o like westerners - WRONG!  It got a bit better as the air-con came on, but still.  Ugh.  

When we finally arrived in Incheon at 5pm the next night, we were expecting to be picked up.  Our taxi driver had made an epic fail and got there too early, couldn't find us so went on a new call.  Grrreat!  So after a little panic, we got in touch with the teachers at the school who arranged that he come back.  After another hour or so he came to get us (phew!).  He did however come just as I was about to use the toilet.  He seemed to be rushing, so I decided to try and hold it in. Oh my god!  The journey was actually only just over an hour (but it felt like foreverrr).  We went straight through the center of Seoul so there were a lot of pretty lights to keep my mind off the toilet.  It was pretty late by the time we arrived at our apartment so we basically just went to bed.

17 hours later........we woke up!!  I have never in my life slept for such a long period of time!  We had a look around our new school which is just a 3 min walk from our apartment (ooh yeaaa).  That night and the next night and the next night and the next night I hardly slept.  Damn you jet-jag.  It's now Sunday and I am overrrr it, yippeeee.

~~~~TEACHING~~~~

So my basic schedule is to get in to school about 9ish to do prep then have the first lesson at 10.  The lessons are 30mins each, so lots of rushing around between classrooms.  We stop at 12 for lunch (help the Korean teachers serve up some food), then start again at 1.  We then have 3 more kindie lessons followed by about half an hour of craziness of giving the kids a snack and getting them ready for the bus.  The next hour is pretty good - some nice peace and quiet (apart from a handful or two of children who stay for afterschool lessons) to do more prep for the elementary classes.  We have 2 classes of elementary kids and then finish at 5.30.  Ahhh, home time. 

The Children:

Hmmmm, how to describe them!  They are all incredibly cute.  So cute I could eat them.  I jokingly told one class that in England, we eat 'children' ice-cream.  I had to take this back very quickly and let them know I was joking as a few actually looked quite scared!!  The first day, we had a 'bubble man' entertainer come in to the school.  The children were beyond excited, it was so adorable watching them go crazy over a few bubbles!  After just a few hours with these kids, they love you and want to hug you all the time.  It's so sweet.   Well, most of them are like that......

There are two classes of extremely young kids (like 3/4yrs old).  They  like  love to scream.  And I mean screaaaam.  In the mornings when they get dropped off there are usually a few crying at the same time.  My ears!  They (usually) quieten up apart from the odd moment.  They are so young though - one girl who we like to call 'the dribbler' for obvious reasons, sits in her seat creating a lovely pool of drool around her.  Another one, who does not like to sit in his seat now has the nickname 'the runner' also for obvious reasons.  He sees an opportunity to run and boy does he take it...all around the school....running around with a cheeky little grin on his face.  Cute, but impossible to teach. Also in that class is a crier.  One that doesn't stop unless she is being cuddled.  I can't imagine how I am going to teach these kids 'rhyming English words' in a couple of weeks when they hardly even know Korean!! 

The rest of the classes are a little bit older, so a lot easier to teach.  Their English is also so good for how young they are, for example, they will ask nicely 'Teacher, may I go to the bathroom please?'  I was really impressed, this is actually better than the much older students I was teaching last year.  I am teaching Creative Arts and Total Reading.  This weeks art project was 'popcorn trees.'  The first lesson was to cover popcorn pieces in glue and glitter.  My first mistake was to open a bag of popcorn and expect the kids to use it for 'art'.  The first bag in each class ended up being eaten :-)  My second mistake was to give a glue stick (you know the clear liquid glue sticks) to 'the dribbler' (who is about 3years old).  She squeezed the whole lot out on to the sheet of paper (which ironically I had put out to protect the desks) and then proceeded to glue to paper to the desk.  Then, when I took it off her she started to cry.  I managed to make her stop by supplying her with popcorn to snack on.. phew.   But what a mess!  

I could write for longer, but I'm tired and I have just spilled tea all over the bed and my left foot so I am going to say goodbye for now.

Annyeonghi gyeseyo  (goodbye!!)

Quotes from my Students

So, I've been in Korea for less than a week and already the children at my Academy have made me laugh with their funny quotes.  It's so much funnier because they are so young (like 4 or 5 years old).   I've decided to keep a blog page about them which I will keep updating as I go along to remind me of the crazy things that come out of their mouths.  Maybe they will make you smile too...

Last Year

Last year, I had some great quotes from my Elementary students, for example in one lesson one of the girls was just sitting there touching my arm.  I was like, 'Rebecca, what are you doing??'  She replied, 'Teacher, your fur is very many.'  !!!  Fur!!????  I'd just like to point out at this moment that I do not have hairy arms. Well, a little bit, not they are defo not 'furry.'  I discovered later that a lot of the children get confused between the terms 'hair' and 'fur' and that she was actually quite amazed by the fact I had blonde hair on my arms as opposed to black, which everyone in Korea has.  James actually had a student start stroking his legs in one class, looking amazed and saying 'gooollllld'.    

I remember once teaching my elementary students on eye colour, and then asking the question about what colour eyes your teacher has.  One girl was like 'Teacher you have blue eyes.'  I replied, 'nope, they are not blue, have a look.'  So she looked in to my eyes and almost immediately let out a high pitched shriek, looked away and covered her face.  It was a bit of a WTF moment!  She then proceed to say whine 'aaahh cat eyes!! Scary cat eyes!!'  (I have a green/grey marble kind of eye colour, just in case you were wondering if I actually have cat eyes. I really don't!)  But this kid was so surprised to see an eye colour which wasn't just a block colour, it genuinely freaked her out.  Haha.  She got over it pretty quickly.


There were so many more, but I didn't bother recording them so I really don't remember what they were.  This year I will try and write them as they happen!

This Year (Feb 2011 onwards, aged 4-7)...

Student:   "Kayleigh Teacher, why is your skin so white?  Do people in England have white skin?"
Me:         "Yes, they do."
Student:  "Oh, it's just I thought it was more peachy."

This one was after I sneezed (I guess I maybe have a strange sounding sneeze):
Student:  (In a shocked voice) "Is that how people sneeze in England??"
Me:   "No, I think I just have a strange sneeze"
Student:  "Like a monkey sneeze!?"

When playing 'I spy'  
Me:  "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with M"
Student A:  "Mouse"
Me:  "I don't see a mouse in here...."
Student B:  (With a Eurika moment, hardly able to sit in his seat) "MONKEY BOY!????"


When putting the students in to teams for a game
Me: "Ok, so what team names do you want?"
Team 1:   Crazy Killers....
Me:    Hmmm...
Team 2:   Malformation
Me:   Whatttttt!?  How do you even know that word!?  No, your team is not allowed to be called 'Malformation.'
Team 2: Ok, 'Team Disabled'?


When asking them, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?'
Student 1 (boy):   A dinosaur doctor..
Student 2 (girl):   A King
Student 3 (boy):  A power Ranger
Student 4 (girl):  A bone doctor


When trying to get a class to remember the word 'shield' ( we were making them in art)
Me:   Ok, here is a hint... it begins with 'ssshhhh....'
Student: (excitedly starts shouting) SHHITTTT SHIIIITTTT SHIIITTTT!!!
Me:  Errrr, no.  Not 'shit'...


First lesson back after Christmas vacation
Me: Did Santa bring you any presents this Christmas?
Student 1:  Yes!!!  I got THREE!!!!  I also left him some candy and I prayed to Santa (he then did some praying motions) to tell him to give some of the candy to the reindeer.
Student 2: I got ONE.
Me: What was it....*excited face*
Student 2: A Scratch.
Me: A scratch??
Student 2: Yes *points to scratch on nose with an annoyed face*.  Santa scratched me.
She then kept insisting that Santa scratched her and that was her present...

Just asking a standard spelling question
Student: Kayleigh Teacher, what is the English word "T-H-O-N-G?"
Me:  Errr....why?  Where did you see that word?
Student: In my house....